Summary: My focus in this sermon is Joy

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.

3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come."

5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.

8 And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it.

9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom

10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now."

11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Sermon Goal: He gives us joy!

The Problem: Sometimes we end up empty, robbed and devoid of our joy. Jesus needs to fill us back up!

First, a little backdrop – how are we talking about joy when this is a miracle about wine?

Not only is this a sign and a miracle – the first of seven that Jesus performed as notated in the book of John demonstrating that He was the messiah – but it is full of symbolism and rich in meaning.

It is ironic that many Christian congregations – maybe some of us today – have a tendency to get lost on the issue of the “wine” today – whether it was real, whether it wasn’t – whether it is ok to embrace it today – and they are missing the entire point of this particular passage when they twist this and other contexts to support their position on prohibition or the lack thereof.

I do, however, want to point out what wine, not drunkenness, stood for at least in the Old Testament day – it stood for joy! Wine – never drunkenness, but wine was a sign of joy and God’s blessings.